244 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



loii^ distances. California annually ships in the neigliborhood 

 of 10,000 carloads of table grapes, all of which must he handled 

 within a period of about two months. As competition in- 

 creases, it becomes more and more necessary to extend the 

 area over which the fruit is to be sold ; to lengthen the marketing 

 season through cold storage ; and for both of these purposes to 

 devise new or to improve present methods of handling the fruit. 

 The two requisites for the successful shipment of this great bulk 

 of grapes are: The fruit must reach the markets in sound 

 condition ; and it must have sufficient market-holding quality 

 to remain sound for a considerable length of time after it arrives 

 in the markets. Experience has thoroughly demonstrated to 

 grape-growers in California that decay in grapes is largely 

 dependent on the presence of injuries to the grape berries, to 

 the pedicels or to the stems of the bunches. ^Methods of 

 handling grapes, therefore, and the type of package used, 

 must be such that the product is injured as little as possible. 



Careful handling. 



In the shipment of European grapes from California, it has 

 been found that it pays to go to much extra trouble in handling 

 the crop. The bunches are picked with care to avoid bruising 

 or crushing berries, and as far as possible they are lifted only by 

 the main stems. They are then laid with care in the picking 

 trays which are filled only one layer deep. In moving the 

 trays to the packing-house, they are handled carefully, the 

 trays being moved only on wagons with springs. In sorting, 

 special care is taken to remove all injured and unsound berries 

 and not to injure others in the bunch, here again handling the 

 clusters by the stems. In packing, the bunches are placed 

 firmly in the baskets with care not to crush or bruise the stems 

 or to injure the pedicels of the berries. A slight injury of 

 either berry or pedicel permits the spores of the fungus causing 

 decay to gain entrance into the fruit. 



